On Tuesday, the House Committee on Natural Resources Subcommittee on Federal Lands held a legislative hearing on the Recreation Not Red-Tape Act (RNR) to ensure outdoor access and a growing outdoor recreation economy. The Act will update processes and policies on our national public lands to improve the outdoor recreation experience.

The legislative hearing and witness testimony can be found here.

Outdoor recreation on our public lands is one of our biggest economic drivers, but agency policies are outdated for the 21st century recreationist. That’s why the RNR Act is supported by NMMA–it aims to reduce barriers to outdoor recreation access and improve public land management for Americans who enjoy skiing, boating, fishing and more on our shared public lands and waters. In addition to NMMA and the recreational boating industry, RNR is supported by the entire spectrum of the outdoor recreation community, from outdoor businesses to the motorized, human-powered and sportsmen communities. In fact, NMMA and our partners in the Outdoor Recreation Industry Roundtable submitted a letter of support this week on the RNR Act to demonstrate our commitment to seeing it through.

For background, in late July, the bipartisan and bicameral RNR Act was introduced by Congress with support from the outdoor community. With such significant economic impact from the outdoor industry and a push by outdoor groups, including NMMA, to get more Americans on our public lands and waters, land management agencies need updated tools to protect and improve access to these lands and waters. The RNR Act offers sensible, non-controversial proposals for identifying and appropriately managing important places for sustainable outdoor recreation across the country. If passed, the RNR Act will update processes and policies on our national public lands to improve the outdoor recreation experience, which is good for the $887 billion per year recreation economy, its 7.6 million jobs and all outdoor businesses.